Have you heard people say “We all slow down as we age”?
I used to rail against this, like slowing down was a bad thing – like I was a clock that needed to be wound. Slowing down meant some acknowledgement that time was getting the upper hand. I thought “slowing down” was the inevitable decline to stopping.
You get where I’m going…slowing down meant never speeding up again.
In the last two weeks, which have been particularly hairy for a variety of reasons, that phrase is hitting me differently. What if…what if slowing down is a choice we get as we “grow wiser”? What if slowing down means some epiphany that we don’t have to do it all? That we learn to prioritize what matters and let go of what doesn’t?
Just because I CAN do everything, doesn’t mean I HAVE to or even that I should. I can still kick it into high gear and function there for a good long while. In fact I enjoy doing it from time to time. But, I don’t feel compelled to do it as much any more. Not from a lack of ability but from a bigger sense of what the cost is to my life. There are trade offs.
I used to squeeze more hours out of the day by cheating sleep, or exercise, or socialization. I functioned on 4 hours of sleep for the better part of a decade working in a start up and building something from scratch. I don’t regret a moment of stolen time (or the stress).
Now, I’ve come to learn that these things (sleep, exercise, socialization) are really important for my balance – mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual. When I cut corners in these areas, everything suffers in the long run, even my productivity. The piper gets paid one way or another. I get to choose if it’s on the front end or the back end.
And so now I think, is it worth it?
Does this laundry list of To Dos matter more than my peace and balance? Is it worth tying myself in knots? If I loosen my grip on doing it all and just go with the flow, does the world end?
Hint: the answer is a big old NO!
Today I think, BALANCE. If I can’t (or don’t want to) juggle all the things in the air right now, I can set a few down. They aren’t going anywhere. They have a funny habit of still being there later if they really need tending to…
Besides, stress ages us. I’m not spending all of this time and focus on anti-aging to undo all of my hard work by loading my plate too full!
The flow goes at its own pace, a pace far slower than my norm.
Do we slow down as we age? I am. By choice and the grace of hard earned wisdom. Slowing down may be the best thing we can do. It gives us time to relax, balance, breathe, and appreciate life.
